After phasing out plastic straws and stirrers last year, the world’s largest hotel chain will stop the use of single use plastic bottles to reduce its environmental impact.

Marriott, which owns 7,000 properties worldwide including brands Sheraton, Westin and Ritz-Carlton, plans to replace all of its single-use plastic toiletry bottles with larger pump bottles by December 2020. 

Earlier, the company replaced smaller single-use bottles with larger pump bottles in about 1,000 of its North American properties.

Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International, said: “This is our second global initiative aimed at reducing single-use plastics in just over a year, which underscores how important we believe it is to continuously find ways to reduce our hotels’ environmental impact. It’s a huge priority for us.” 

The hotel chain hopes the switch will save 500 million small bottles, equivalent to 1.7 million pounds of plastic rubbish, from being dumped in landfills every year.

The InterContinental Hotels Group began the anti-plastic movement in the hospitality industry, and Walt Disney Co. and Hyatt are following suit to move away from mini bottles, which are usually non-recyclable.

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Threat

Plastic pollution threatens the environment adversely affecting wildlife, marine life, and humans.

Around 8.8 million tons is dumped in the world’s oceans every year, killing marine life.

Several authorities are waking up to the threat. The Californian government is considering banning hotels from using small shampoo bottles, while the European Union is banning a wide range of single-use plastic items, such as cutlery and plates, by 2021. 

• Read: ‘Reverse vending machines’ will give 20p for empty plastic bottles to encourage recycling

Is Marriott doing enough by banning mini toiletries? Share your thoughts in the comments below!